A World That Needs Me
by KeyToUnivers
Summary: /"When thinking about it," he thought "you have always been a savior: even in the face of disaster, you always had a way out for us. I am not like you, I am not a miracle-maker."/ Follow Gohan, the one who died by the hands of the Androids (or did he?) in the original timeline as he find himself in the World of the Ninjas, in his 7 years old body.
1. A Brave Warrior's Last Stand

_**Hey there, KeyToUnivers speaking! And welcome, WELCOME to my new story!**_

_**For those of you who got lost while browsing through the Net or just had a sudden amnesia ("o_o) you are in an X-over story mixing my two favorite mangas EVER! (no, I'm not a fanboy.) Dragon Ball and Naruto!**_

_**Of course, I'll begin this story at the moment Gohan gets ready to fight androids 17 and 18: Hope you'll like the fight scene! I'll also appear ONCE in the story at any moment, try to guess when…**_

_**Gohan and Naruto, each one of you do the disclaimer of your own series!**_

_**_Gohan: Dragon Ball is owned by Akira Toriyama.**_

_**_Naruto: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.**_

_**_Gohan and Naruto: Please support the official releases!**_

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><p><strong>I\ A brave warrior's last stand<strong>

(On a mountain, near a city)

On the summit of a mountain, two boys were taking a break after a tough training session. The two boys were a man around his twenty years-old and a teenager around his fifteen.

The man was a muscular youth with a scar on the left side of his face, going from above his eye to his cheek. He had short black hair, slicked in spikes in the front, and black eyes. He wore an orange gi that read on its back the kanji word 'Han' (飯) meaning _Meal_, with blue shirt underneath with elbow length sleeves, covering only his right arm since he missed the left one, and matching blue wristbands, belt and boots. He was lying on the ground, supporting his head with his remaining arm, looking at the sky.

His friend was slim teenager with straight purple hair and blue eyes wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with blue on the shoulder to the end of the sleeves. His shirt had the words 'CAPSULE corp.' on it. He also wore grey pants and black boots. He was sitting on a rock while looking at his friend with a grave look.

"I can't believe myself! I've been trying over and over and I still can't turn into a Super Saiyan?!" the purple-head complained, upset that he couldn't achieve what his father and his master achieved before him. The said master looked at his and gave reassuring smile.

"Relax, Trunks, just forget a little about becoming a 'Super Saiyan', will you?" he told him.

"Relax? But, you're my teacher, you should know what's wrong with me!" the teen, now know as Trunks, replied.

"Nothing is wrong with you," his teacher said, causing the teen to turn around and face him "you just need to find the right motivation. It's easy for me," he added, looking back at the sky and frowning while resuming his sentence "all I have to do is think about how those Androids killed Picoro-san and Kuririn-san, and then I feel a horrible pain. This pain turns, then, into rage: I don't want this to happen again and that's when the dam breaks!" as he was talking, Trunks was attentively listening to him.

Silence fell upon them.

"Hey, Gohan-san." The teen said, hesitant, breaking the silence.

"Hn? What wrong, Trunks?" the young man, now known as Gohan, replied.

"N-nothing… I just wanted to know," he paused, looking down to his feet before resuming and looking back at his companion "what was my father like? I never met him while you have known him for quite a long time." he finally managed to ask.

Gohan, at first, just looked at Trunks, expressionless. Then, he smiled and answered "You're father was a proud Saiyan warrior. He and my father would always fight to know who was the strongest. He sure was overconfident, mean and sometimes cruel, but do not forget that he was the Saiyan Prince." That description made the younger Saiyan smile while looking back at the sky.

Gohan did the same, but now, a flow of memories came back to his mind: memories of Vegeta, Trunks' father, but also, memories of his own father. He couldn't help but remember all those times he was in danger and Goku would appear to save him from the fatality. He clearly recalled the time Nappa, a scary bald Saiyan warrior that was Vegeta's ally during the time the latter was an evil planet destroyer, was about to crush him with his foot and there, his father came and saved him. He recalled the time he was severely injured by Recoome, a member of the Ginyu Force, and Goku arrived just in time to heal him with a Senzu Bean. He also recalled the moment everything seemed lost during the fight against Frieza, the galactic tyrant, and his father transformed into a Super Saiyan: a legendary transformation achieved only by the strong-willed Saiyans, and put the monster in a critical state.

'_When thinking about it,'_ he thought _'you have always been a savior: even in the face of disaster, you always had a way out for us. I am not like you, I am not a miracle-maker and the Androids will get me sooner or later. But…'_ He looked at his student and friend, Trunks _'If that day ever comes, I will join you in the Other World with a clear consciousness, because I left a shining light of hope for the future… Trunks.'_

***BOOM***

His thoughts were interrupted by a huge explosion that came from far away. The two warriors stood up and looked in front of them: a dark cloud of smoke was emanating from the city near their emplacement, letting them deduce what happened _'The Androids!'_ they thought.

"Uuuugh… ARRRGH!" Gohan shout as he converted his anger into power.

He was now enveloped in a golden aura that surrounded his whole body. His muscles were now twice as developed as they were. His hair, however, were spikier, as if hit by a thunderbolt, and took a golden taint, matching the aura that enveloped him. His eyes, from the black color they had, changed into emerald green orbs around his iris. His expression also metamorphosed: from the calm, serious young man, he transformed into a furious and enraged warrior, ready for the fight.

"I can't let you fight them!" shout the teenager.

"Trunks, listen: I have to go! You stay here and don't leave no matter what!" ordered Gohan.

"Are you crazy?! You don't stand a chance: especially not with your injury!"

"Just listen, if you come with me, I'll be more vulnerable!"

"But I'm stronger this time! Trust me, I can handle myself!" after that last argument, the two hybrids stared at each other for a moment, before Gohan sighed and slightly smiled.

"Okay, Trunks, you win." He said.

"Yes, let's get them!" he said, turning his attention to the burning city in front of him.

The Super Saiyan still stared at him with a hint of sadness in his eyes _'Forgive me, Trunks…'_ he discretely raised his open hand behind the other Saiyan hybrid and hit him on the back of his neck, knocking him off.

Trunks began falling on the ground, unconscious, and then, Gohan grab him by the shirt and slowed his fall, putting him slowly down. He was still looking at him with sorrow _'You're still not quite ready for this fight. I can hear all those people down here, crying; that's why I have to go. You are our last hope, Trunks, you have to live…'_ he prepared to leave, but rested his emerald eyes on the Future's last hope, for the last time _'Goodbye, little brother. Hopefully, you'll understand someday and forgive me.'_

With that, the warrior powered up and flew off at high speed towards the battlefield.

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><p>(Meanwhile, in the destroyed city)<p>

To think that the day began by being a casual, sunny and beautiful day and ended up to become an apocalyptic spectacle: before the people of the town could blink, a gigantic shining energy blast fell from the sky upon the city and caused an enormous explosion in the area around it, destroying everything standing in its path: streets, vehicles, buildings, people… everything caught in that explosion.

If the town was, some minutes ago, filled with the noisy crowd enjoying their day, now it was filled with screams of fear for the ones trying to escape that rampage, and of agony for those suffering it.

What was the cause of all this chaos, you ask? The answer is simple: The Androids, two human-shaped war machines created by Dr. Gero.

Dr. Gero was a mad scientist who was working for the Red Ribbon Army, a powerful army known across the world and led by the diminutive Commander Red who had one goal: get the seven Dragon Balls dispersed in all the corners of the globe by all means, including: enslaving people, interrogating them, stealing them, menacing them, torturing them and even killing them to 'keep them quiet'.

It said that if you collected all seven of the artifacts, the mighty dragon, Shen-long, would come out of them and grant you one single wish before vanishing with the Dragon Balls and dispersing them across the world once more. Commander Red heard a rumor about them and immediately ordered his army to search for them. But what was his wish? Was to sell them? No. Was it to be grant money? No. Was it for the title of the lord of the world? Not even close. His ultimate goal was quite stupid: he wanted a normal height since he was, as stated before, very short for an adult.

However, not only did the Red Ribbon Army failed to achieve its goal, but it has also been terminated by a single man, or should we say, a single kid. That kid assaulted the army, defeating their most feared and powerful generals and destroying the entire bases. That mighty boy was actually Goku during the time he was around his 14 years old. He successfully annihilated the R&R name from history… or so everyone thought.

As they thought that the R&R army was done for good, there actually was a sole survivor, Dr. Gero.

After what Goku did to his army, the scientist live with the hope of getting revenge one day on Goku. He began kidnapping human subjects, trying to create androids with their shapes. Most of his early experiments failed, causing the death of his subjects and feeding his anger even more. Every day passing, every minute passing made his thirst of revenge even greater.

Meanwhile, he decided to build a microscopic fly-shaped robot to spy on Goku and his friends and follow his progress through the years and study his techniques: from his fight with King Picoro to his fight with Vegeta, missing the journey to namek. But, it didn't make a huge difference, though. It's only after seventeen years of patience that he finally activated his master-pieces.

Android 17, a young man-shaped cyborg with shoulder-length black hair, hiding his earrings, and blue eyes full of life, he was wearing a black T-shirt that had the Red Ribbon's logo on the left side of his chest with an orange bandanna around his neck, and he wore a long-sleeved white shirt underneath his T-shirt. He also was wearing a belt to hold up his blue torn jeans and just below this belt, he wore another one with a pouch and a gun holster. He had a pair of blue and white sneakers and green socks.

Android 18, however, was young woman-shaped cyborg with a similar look with her twin brother: shoulder-length hair, only that her were blonde and she kept the left side of it behind her ear, revealing her hoop earring. She had blue eyes just like the cyborg 17 and wore blue denim open jacket that revealed her black undershirt with black and white striped sleeves. She was wearing a short skirt matching her denim blue jacket with, under it, some dark blue stockings. She had brown boots.

The two cyborgs were powerful and created with one goal: eliminate Son Goku. However, Gero lost his control over them and they ended up killing him, their own creator.

The two Androids began looking for their target, afterwards. They started by attacking South City, attracting the Z-fighters' attention. They tried to face their new threat, but ended up getting killed, one after the other except for Goku who died some months prior due to an unknown Heart Virus he caught from God knows where, and Gohan who managed to escape the monsters.

Knowing that they had not any real purpose of living since Goku was dead, the Androids decided to do whatever they felt like doing which means enjoying themselves by breaking all the rules of life and destroying towns when they were really bored, usually ending up with them fighting Gohan and Trunks, the last survivors of the Saiyan race and the last Z-fighters to block their path. They kept that style of life for the following thirteen years.

Today, again, they were the ones responsible for the destruction of the city they were in right now. 17 was standing on a building, throwing energy balls at every human crossing his eyesight while 18 was watching him from her place, sitting on a destroyed building, crossing her legs and with annoyance visible in her pretty face.

"Won't we do something else for a change?! This is getting boring!" she complained.

"Boring?" he repeated, turning his attention to her and leaving the poor citizen for some seconds "But this is actually fun! Waiting for you while you try every single dress in the stores we cross, THIS is boring!" he then returned his attention to the people running everywhere and launched another beam from his index finger "C'mon, look at them; isn't it great to have them scream and try to run their ass out of here?"

The female was still unhappy. But, she noticed that, behind her, a random victim was pushing his way out the debris of a building that collapsed on him and was beginning to crawl around, severely injured. The blonde smiled while pointing her left index finger behind her right arm and said, watching 17.

"I think you missed one." with that, she released from her finger an energy ray that caused an explosion when it connected with her target, pulling up smoke and debris and obviously killing the unlucky man.

"That's 10 more points!" said the male Android, hinting that the two of them were comparing their destructive ambitions with a videogame and that their victims were the targets to hit to get points "Now, we're tied." As he finished pronouncing those words, something violently hit him in the face and sent him crash in a building, causing it to collapse on him.

18 raised her eyes to see who was the culprit behind that interruption, just to see a pair of feet, covered in familiar blue boots, landing on the building her brother was standing on, a moment ago. As she raised her eyes more, she could perfectly see a blonde-haired man standing straight with his green eyes staring at her with hate: the new arriver was nobody else than Gohan who just joined the battlefield.

"Ugh. AAH!" the voice belonged to 17 who just used his energy to repulse the debris surrounding him. As the smoke cleared revealing him standing, 18 laughed, pointing her finger at him.

"Ahahahah! Your shirt, it's torn!" she kept laughing like that.

"That's quite an entrance you made," the subject of laugh told Gohan as he walked toward him, hiding his anger in his voice "I hope you enjoyed it, because it will cost you your life!" then, he clenched his hands in fists and almost yelled "And you trashed my favorite shirt!"

He kept staring at the Hybrid before smiling, a sadistic smile that would never result in anything good "But I'm glad you came, though. Yeah, this is perfect: you can be our tie-breaker!" by the time he ended his sentence, 18 descended to their level, right behind Gohan, crossing her arms and copying her brother's sadistic smile.

"First who kills him wins; it's sudden death: no tie." She said staying in the videogame concept.

"You know you can't win, you can't destroy what I really am!" shout Gohan, switching his glance from an Android to the other "Even if you manage to kill this body, someone even stronger would surface and take my place!" as he said those words, the two monsters closed the distance between them slowly, mockingly laughing "Not one death will go uncounted for, NOT ONE!"

_~Music Recommendation: 'Prevent it! Cell's perfect Body'~_

With that, he finally began powering up, the golden aura surrounding him again, giving his face even more bestiality. At the same moment, the cyborgs stopped walking and began rushing toward him from both his front, for 17, and his back, for 18, leaving him minor options to dodge.

The Saiyan raised his only hand up and created a blue orb of energy in his palm. Both Androids were ready to attack; they knew he wouldn't be able to do much with only one arm left.

To their surprise, the Hybrid didn't launch the attack on them. At the last moment, he threw it to the ground, raising a cloud of smoke to confuse his opponents AND evading them by sending himself to the air, flying.

The twins, however, didn't lose his track for too long, they quickly followed him up in the air and caught up to him _'I should have expected it, from them…'_ the warrior thought.

Then, they got above him and charged yellow energy balls in each of their hands and throwing them at their enemy who now had in total four blasts to handle. The young Saiyan stopped his ascension to the sky and concentrated his KI around him "Devil Shell!" he pronounced as a green barrier of energy formed around him, blocking them and protecting him. The shock resulted in a massive explosion and a blinding light.

'_Dammit! This is the kind of moment they've been waiting for!'_ Gohan thought as he perfectly knew that one the biggest advantages of the Androids is that they don't have KI so it is impossible to feel their presence. However, they can feel his which is pretty much to his disadvantage. He decided to instead focus on his ears and try to hear their movements.

"UAH!" He heard something coming at him from the left, so he got his right arm ready to block whatever was coming at him.

***BAF***

He successfully blocked the punch that was thrown at him, and his aggressor revealed it to be Android 18. As he struggled to push her away, he heard yet another person coming at him, 17 this time, for sure. However, his only arm was already occupied and before he had time to think of another solution, he received the strike on the back of his neck, pushing him to the female who got on the other side and joined her hands into a hammer and hit the weakened man on the back so violently that he crashed to the ground at high speed, hitting his back on a tunnel in the process.

As he opened him eyes after the impact, he quickly rolled backward and used his hand to push himself back, evading just in time the blow his enemies were about to deliver him while he was still down.

He did a series of jumps to the back before stopping on where he thought was a reasonable distance to use his attack _'Look, dad! I'm doing this one for you!'_ he thought, preparing his attack: a special technique he mastered with the help of Master Roshi, after his father's death.

He gestured his hand backward _'KAAA…' _he saw the Androids getting closer to one another _'MEEE…'_ they joined their hands to the front: 17 the right hand and 18 the left one _'HAAA'_ a blue orb of energy began forming in his hand, and a yellow one formed in front the cyborgs' ones _'MEEE…'_ they were the first to launch their attack: a golden beam that moved fast toward him "HAAAAA!" Finally, he also released the energy wave he has been preparing.

The two attacks collided, resulting in a violent clash between the two waves of energy, repulsing everything around them, as the three fighters were struggling to keep on their feet, even if the Androids were having the upper hand. Goku's son desperately stood as he was watching the golden light surround him even more than the blue one did, proving that he was losing the struggle.

He began clenching his teeth _'Darn! If today is the day I join you…'_ he was thinking about both his father and Picoro as he felt them closer to him, maybe because he felt his end near?

_~Change the music to: 'Bardock's death theme'~_

For a moment, he had a vision. He was in a dark space, with nothing around him. He randomly looked around, before noticing a light in the distance. The light was growing bigger, closer, until it consumed him completely and blinded him.

When he was able to see again, he was in a land with grass and mountains. He distinguish silhouettes in front of him that he immediately recognized: he recognized himself, as a kid, Kuririn on the ground, severely injured and a bald, giant half-naked man who was starring angrily at his younger version.

"That's it, kid, you've done it this time!" he said as he raised his hand and a white form of energy formed around it, frightening his young self.

"AWAY WITH YOU!" he growled as he launched the attack.

The real Gohan was watching this memory, powerless: he tried to move forward and punch the bald, but he was unable to move. What came next perfectly fitted his memory: as the blinding white attack was thrown at him, a new silhouette came in front of him and separated his hands to each side in a protective way _'P-Picoro-san…'_ he barely managed to whisper.

Then suddenly, the persons in front of him disappeared, he was all alone, now. He stood still for a moment and began noticing changes in his environment. The sky and the grass exchanged their respective colors: the grass took the sky's blue color while the sky took the grass' green one.

Deep down, he had a flow of memories of this place _'Namek…?'_ the planet Namek was a faraway planet in the galaxy where he lived big adventures with Kuririn and Buruma, Trunks' mother, to bring back the warriors that died by the hands of Nappa, and the Saibaman for Yamucha's case.

As he turned around, he distinguished new silhouettes. This time, it was him during the fight against Frieza, Kuririn and Picoro who was brought back to life earlier and whose powers, even after his training with Kaio and fusion with Nail paled in front of the tyrant's strength. Speaking of him, the latter was near them, holding an injured Vegeta by his armor with one hand, and preparing to cut his throat with the sharp nails of the other.

As the monster was about to put an end to the Saiyan Prince's life, someone landed in the middle of the battlefield with a speed that caused wind to spread in the area around his landing spot. Everyone turned their attentions to the new intruder who revealed to be, to the big relieve of everyone except Frieza, Goku.

Goku stood still looking around him and resting his glare on Frieza, staring at him seriously "So," he said, finally addressing his new opponent "you are Frieza… I thought you were more intimidating than this."

He turned his attention away from the tyrant to look at the small group besides him and smiled "Sorry for being late, everyone." He approached the younger Gohan who had tears in his eyes: he has been waiting for his father to save him for so long. He closed the distance between him and his son and stroked his head "You sure handled it perfectly, son. I'm proud of you. Now, leave the rest to me."

The Pure Blooded Saiyan returned his glare toward the Galactic Emperor and began walking to his direction, walking past the older version of his son who was now eyeing him from the back.

At this moment, his surrounding faded into nothingness, and he was yet again in the dark, empty space. Only this time, not everything faded: his father was still here, still walking in front of him. He was walking, but the distance between them didn't change at all.

He kept eyeing him from behind: a tall, well-built man with spiky black hair. He was wearing a similar outfit as his current timeline son: an orange gi with a blue T-shirt underneath with the sleeves shorter his son's. He wore blue wristbands, belt and boots, just like his son. One of the biggest differences between their outfits was the Kanji word written on the back: his read 'Go' (悟) meaning _Wisdom_.

He was walking fearlessly in front of him, without turning back, not even slowing down his pace. He was courageous, strong, experimented and, on top of that, pure hearted: you could hardly find someone who held a grudge against him; everyone loved him for his sincerity and confidence.

In other words, he was everything Gohan to be; he wanted to succeed his father in his task, especially after the latter's death. That's when his vision ended and he was brought back to reality.

_~Change the music back to: 'Prevent it! Cell's perfect body'~_

The struggle was still going on as he was an inch from losing it. But, he couldn't let it end like this… He couldn't.

'_I'm not meeting you without putting everything I've got down here!'_ with that, his eyes widened, his teeth clenched even more and the aura surrounding him grew bigger. The roles in the struggle reversed as Gohan's **Kamehameha **was now quickly gaining ground, getting closer to 17 and 18.

In the end, the Turtles' signature technique hit the two abominations, dealing considerable damages. Gohan immediately took his fighting stance again and rushed toward the knocked down Androids to attack them. However, 17 recovered from the energy wave he took and launched a fireball at the Saiyan who deflected it just in time at the cost of his guard. Taking this opportunity at hand, the male cyborg punched the Hybrid in the face, throwing him back.

The Super Saiyan used his hand to push himself back on his feet, and automatically began jumping away from the cyborg that was following him _'He's getting closer…'_ he released from his palm three consecutive explosive energy balls before the sound of some getting closer came to his ear: 18 who was missing for a moment.

He just had enough time to use an after image technique to dodge her coming kick, before re-appearing behind her and hitting the back of her neck with his elbow. As for 17, he barely deflected two of the explosive fireballs, but got the third one straight on his face, sending him crash on a building.

As his sister was about to recover from Gohan's counter-attack, the latter quickly grab her foot and descended on the building where 17 crashed earlier at high speed, slamming her on it with all his strength, causing the construction to collapse.

The saiyan slowly landed on the ground, barely catching his breath. Of course, not too much time passed before the Androids emerged from the smoke emanating from the debris of the destroyed structures. Only that they weren't exhausted at all, but their clothes were a mess as well as their hairs. 18 arranged hers behind her ear as she usually did while 17 wiped off what looked like blood from his face with the back of his hand.

Truth being said, Gohan was already out of breath, he didn't knew how much longer he would be able to keep up this infernal rhythm.

'_No! I still didn't reach my limit! Not yet.'_ His hand clenched into a fist, so hard that he began feeling his nails cutting through his palm. The golden aura surrounded him once more, even more intensely than before, and pink lightning spread around him. His power up caused the sky to cover with dark clouds as the sound of the thunder could be heard around the area. A drop of water fell on the ground, followed by another one then two more, before it started pouring.

The three fighters stared at each other under the rain and the lightning, the usually mocking face of the cyborgs was now quite serious; they now knew that Gohan wasn't a fighter to underestimate anymore: they had to kill him today!

The two monsters exchanged a glare before nodding at one another "This thunderstorm is a perfect backdrop for your demise." Said the male Android, trying to intimidate the gashed man.

"There is no end for me… NO END!" he yelled, determinate to fight with all his will.

"We're definitely killing him this time, 17: he's beginning to get on my nerves!" said 18, decided to end this fight.

The two abominations began getting closer to each other, as if fusing into one being with the female cyborg standing behind her brother _'What are they preparing?!'_ wondered the Hybrid.

Then, without warning, they rushed toward him and, at the last moment, separated the sides, leaving him no way of escaping them. They released a fury of punches and kicks while the older Saiyan alive barely managed to block/evade them.

'_I can't keep up with them. At this rate, they'll…'_ as he was desperately fighting for his life, 17 got down and tackled him, making him lose his balance.

He turned his back on them and flew off quickly, trying to escape them. They, however, followed him closely from behind, not willing to let him get away this time. As he was about to lose them, two shining energy waves came from his sides and connected in front of him, resulting in an explosion followed with smoke. The poor Saiyan closed his eyes and used his hand to protect himself from the explosion.

As he made it out of it, he was hit on the back by his enemies, crashing on a building, before falling on the ground. "C-Curse… you…!" he managed to say as he was supporting his body with his elbow to get up.

However, he was quickly hit by a laser beam followed by another one before a rain of plasma landed all around him. This time, he knew it: there was NO escape to his fate.

He powerlessly lay on the ground as he was stroke by the blasts. His vision began blurring as his heart skipped some beats. _'So this is how it feels… to die.'_ he managed to think, as he lost consciousness _'Sorry, Trunks. It looks like the rest is up to you.'_

Gohan should have been happy: even if he was dying, he was sure that he left someone who would be able—no, who WILL save their world. Plus, he fought the Androids, the monsters that killed all his friends and loved ones, with all his strength and will and died an honorable death. So why? Why did he, deep down felt guilt and a feeling that his life wasn't fulfilled. This feeling felt so… selfish? He didn't know.

But, before completely falling into unconsciousness, he was sure that he felt a hand holding his and lifting him; was it death embracing him? He couldn't know, right now…

* * *

><p>(Later, in a foggy area)<p>

I was walking through a green, foggy place quietly. The area being filled with fog was already a trouble for anyone to find their ways, so knowing that I ended up here at night… I could barely watch my steps and the cold night was piercing through my skin. I just hope that I don't catch a cold, after this; no wonder nobody can be seen around here at that moment.

But, it actually was pretty convenient: I didn't want ANYONE to notice my presence here, in this Universe, especially not with what I had in hand.

As I was walking, I was carrying in my right arm the corpse of a young man. The man was badly injured, between life and death, and his clothes, some kind of orange gi and blue shirt, were in the hell of a mess. He could have died, if I didn't remember him and get one of my crazy ideas flowing through my head. I suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere and rested my eyes on him, an evil grin drawing on my lips.

"You're lucky to be one of the characters I really respected and empathized with through the series…" I whispered while putting him on the cold grassy ground "After all, your history is an eternal cycle that repeats again and again. Isn't scary, to know that I could have another version of you instead of the one in front of me?"

I raised my hand to the sky as a blue aura enveloped me "I'll use my powers to give you a second chance in life to accomplish your dream, whether you take this opportunity or not is up to you. My power is," As I pronounced those words, a blue card formed above me, slowly descending to my palm. The card was a Tarot Card with, on the back, a blue mask drawn surrounded by a mystical circle, and on its front part, nothing: just a black space as if it was empty… Such was the strength of "the Authors' Arcana." At the moment the card reached my hand, I crushed it, empowering the blue aura around me.

I slowly lowered my hand toward the man's direction and released an energy wave in his direction. As the wave passed through his body, all his injuries were cured: no more scratched, no more blood; he was perfectly clean from any marks of the fight and even his outfit was fixed; his left arm was still missing, though.

I, however, didn't stop here "It would be a shame to keep you at this age, I guess I'll expend you lifespan even more than this." I immediately released another energy wave that passed through him and watched the changes occurring: his body was getting smaller as well as his clothes; he was getting back to his 7 years old self "Ah, and sorry but I can't do much about you arm..."

After this, I finally turn my back on him and proceeded to walk away. I glanced one last time at him from above my shoulder and said "Good luck, Gohan; son of Son Goku." before disappearing in the fog, leaving no trace of my presence.

* * *

><p><em><strong>FINALLY! I finished the first chapter of the first story I'm written for my two favorite mangas! So, just to make things clear before you ask any questions: I ONLY appeared here as the initiator of the story; every fanfiction author does this in a way or another, but I wanted to do it straight, plus I have the right to do something crazy once in a while, right? RIGHT?!<strong>_

_**Then, if you are wondering whether or not Gohan's memories are erased, then stop thinking about it: he is perfectly fine, but he's younger. As for his power level, I want him to keep it the way it is, but if you guys prefer him a tiny bit underpowered, do share your opinion about it.**_

_**Well, that will do it for now, if you have any questions, suggestions, pairing ideas or complaints, do voice them through PM and reviews; I'll be glad to answer any of your questions right away (or in the next chapter, if you're a guest) as long as they are constructive for the story!**_

_**With that, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and that you'll Review, Follow and Fav.**_

_**P.S: I won't be posting the next chapter anytime soon, since I first want to complete at least one of my two current in-progress stories ("Narukami's Journey" and "Persona Days") This should give you enough time to voice ALL what you feel about that chapter, and I hope you'll understand.**_

_**Merry Christmas and happy holidays! (^_^)**_


	2. A New World

_**Remember when I said that before resuming this story I would have to finish one of my other two in-progress ones? Well, I changed my mind: I'll continue this story every now and then, whenever I'm inspired to do so… like now!**_

_**Before we begin, let me answer the guests' reviews:**_

"_**_seeker: thank you for telling me about the site: it's better not to fall for clichés that might ruin the whole story."**_

"_**_Gaist: Hehe, don't worry: I was just asking for pairings suggestions for later in the story. And don't worry about Gohan's personality and especially his apparitions: he has his own problems (fights) to deal with already.**_

_**And if the Japanese names really are annoying, then I'll just stop using them; it's that simple, but I might do an exception with some names like Konoha, since I personally think it is better like this. As for the fourth wall breaking moment, I believe that I did mention that the first chapter would be the ONLY time I would do this."**_

_**Now that we're done with the reviews, let's begin the second chapter!**_

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><p><strong>II\ A New World?<strong>

(Somewhere, in the Land of Fire)

As the hours passed in the Land of Fire, the night gave room to the day, making the area a little brighter because of the night's fog lifting, allowing the sun's rays to spread all over the country in the early hours of the morning.

While the sunrays caressed the grassy ground, a kid could be seen, sleeping peacefully despite the cold night he spent out.

But, as the child was resting peacefully, two shadows approached him: one was a colossal silhouette while the other was of average height and both had what appeared to be white cloaks with hoods covering their faces.

The new arrivers got closer to the boy, slowly, until they were a meter away from his body.

"Why, what have we got here?" said the smaller one.

"We don't care; let's just head back to report to the Lord." the taller one said while turning his back and getting ready to move. He was, however, stopped by his companion who got closer to the body and grabbed the back of its shirt and pulled it up.

"Don't be a spoilsport: maybe we can get something out of this piece of meat…" his friend just sighed and shook his head.

"Can't you stop picking up everything you see on the road? Fine; take this cub if you're so bored, but you take the responsibility if the master gets mad!" he warned, earning an evil laugh from his teammate.

"No need to worry: he might just like it… as his dinner!" the both finally took off, laughing, before disappearing in the sky.

(Later, in the middle of a forest)

The two beings were flying above a large forest while scanning all the area around them.

"This planet is smaller than Earth," the one holding the kid said "but the inhabitants have a considerable power level without being too strong for us: this will be perfect when we find the right emplacement to release the Black Water Mist!"

"Yeah, but we'll first have to find that emplacement, especially knowing the fact that the master is picky."

They were still flying when suddenly, the smaller one stopped. His comrade noticed it and stopped as well to ask him the reason of that sudden halt.

"Take a look." he said, pointing the child with his eyes "He reminds me of someone we've seen before, what do you think?"

The other crossed his arms and lowered his head to the level of the unconscious boy he examined his face for a moment before nodding to himself.

"Umm, I've seen his face before…" he then wore a sadistic smile "Heheh, maybe it wasn't that much of a bad idea to grab him along."

"Hah, see? I always do the right thing." he narcissistically commented.

"Yeah yeah… Keep going." His friend said before powering up and flying away. The other followed him and they resumed their way.

(Inside a temple-like building)

In the middle of the forest was some kind of small temple hidden by the trees: this place was exactly where the two mysterious men were heading. Once there, they entered. The inside was just like the outside hinted it to be: small, old and dark. The building was standing with two lines of pillars and other than that, there was nothing inside other than a stone throne occupied by a small looking man hidden in darkness and also wearing a hood.

The two men approached the one sitting on the throne and, after reaching a certain distance, kneeled before him.

"Lord Garlic Jr." the narcissist one began "We are back."

The one known as Garlic raised his head to his henchman's level before asking "Did you find any decent spot to proceed with the 'operation', Spice? Vinegar?"

The buffed man, now known as Vinegar, hesitated before speaking up "Master, we searched through this entire small planet and we didn't find any lookout or anything that might be of use to spread the Mist."

Before he could continue with the explanations, his boss got up punched the throne behind him out of anger with the back of his hand, breaking it to pieces. He furiously glared at his minions and shout.

"Useless! Not only you failed to find an emplacement to release the Black Water Mist, but you also dared coming back with your mission unfulfilled?! If you can't manage to execute my orders, then there was no purpose to bring you back to life—" he stopped in the middle of his menaces as he noticed the corpse in Spice's arm.

"Spice! What are you hiding there?!" he asked still angry.

"Oh, this! Lord Garlic, you should probably take a look at this human: he looks familiar." this just made his blood boil even more.

"What?! You bring a human kid to me just because he is 'familiar'?! You deceive me, Spice!" he raised his index finger and pointed it at the man in front of him and began charging some yellow energy ball in front of it.

"P-P-Please, my Lord: have mercy!" he mumbled while trembling with fear. He closed his eyes, waiting for the blast to hit him, but it never did. When, he opened them, his master was staring at the thing he was carrying.

Garlic Jr. just noticed something with the child: his outfit. This orange uniform wasn't unknown to him.

"Spice!" he called.

"M-My Lord!"

"Bring that boy closer." He ordered. His henchman obeyed and immediately approached his master while handing the body of the child in front of him.

The monster raised his head with his thumb and index fingers and examined him for a moment before his eyes widened _'That boy… Could he be?!'_

"Lord Garlic Jr., are you alright?" asked Spice as he noticed the sudden change of expression of his master. The latter had his expression quickly switch from shock to a pure evil grin.

"Spice, Vinegar: do you guys remember why we're stuck in this unknown planet?" he asked, earning puzzled looks from his minions.

"It's because of King Demon Piccolo and his student brat, right?" said Vinegar, clenching his hands into fists at the memory of how Gohan defeated him as a kid. The boss then pointed the sleeping boy with his finger.

"Then what if I told you… That Piccolo's brat of a student is right in front of us!"

Meanwhile, Gohan began moving a little _'What… is happening?'_ he slightly opened his eyes.

"Hehe! Look, he's waking up!" said Vinegar.

'_Who is talking?"_ wondered the Saiyan while opening his eyes more. He distinguished two silhouettes surrounding him and felt a hand grabbing him from behind. He immediately had the reflex of pushing the person behind him with the back of his hand to set himself free from the grasp and jumped backward as far as possible.

Gohan stood, completely awake now, and facing the three persons in front of him: all of them had white cloak and hoods, preventing him to see their faces.

"W-Who are you?!" he asked, taking a fighting stance. They responded with laughs.

'_And…'_ He thought as he felt something weird with himself _'Why do I feel so short? My voice sounds like the one of a kid, too. Where am I?'_

"Now, my boys," The shortest of the hooded men said, getting the Hybrid back to reality "there is no need for our 'guest' to get bored so early."

As he finished speaking, he, along with his two henchmen, quickly jumped and disappeared. Gohan immediately focused on sensing their KIs and hearing their movements: they were running in circles all over the room at high speed. Occasionally, he would hear them approach him and try some sneaky attacks, but he was fast enough to block and dodge their strikes that came from almost everywhere.

At last, they all landed at a certain distance behind him. He turned and noticed that they took off their hoods meanwhile. As he stared at them, his eyes widened: those three people weren't unknown to him.

"G-Garlic?! Garlic Jr.?!" he said as he saw the smallest guy of the group which, from the start, were not humans. The half-Saiyan remembered the small blue skinned alien; he encountered him twice in his life with him barely being four years old during their first encounter, and five during their second.

Garlic Junior was the son of Garlic who was in the past Kami's rival to the title of Guardian. However, the previous Guardian saw through his evil schemes and chose Kami as the new Guardian of Earth. Furious, the Makyan raised a rebellion against the ancient Guardian, but it was useless: he was defeated and sealed, leaving his son his thirst of revenge.

If you asked Gohan, almost all the enemies he faced before have been seeking for the Dragon Balls to achieve immortality, and all of them failed. Garlic Jr., however, was the only one who was granted that wish, thus becoming impossible to kill. The two times he was defeated were similar: in both encounters, Gohan was the one who sealed him in his own dimension-trap 'The Dead Zone'. Little was known about that zone other than the fact it was made of a dark void sucking everything inside it, never to be seen again.

The two henchmen of Garlic weren't unknown to Gohan either, but it has been several years since he fought them and with him having only the Androids to care about, he forgot their names. Plus, he managed to kill them at the same time back when he fought them, so they weren't a real trouble.

Spice was the most eloquent/narcissist of the group with his white hair combed up in a similar way as Vegeta's, his light blue skin and his pink armor under his white cloak. Vinegar, on the other hand, was the most reckless/brute force oriented one of the team. He had brown hair falling to his back and purple skin. He wore a green and black armor under his white cloak. He missed the horned hat he had back when they first encountered.

There were supposed to be two other minions with the Makyan, but they were nowhere to be seen. Could it be that their chef didn't judge them strong enough to serve him again?

_~Recommended music: The fearsome Ginyu special corps~_

"Hey, kid!" said Vinegar, his voice snapping the Saiyan out of his thoughts "How about I repay you for last time?!" while shouting this, he charged energy in his hand.

"No! Not in my temple!" ordered his boss, or at least he tried because he was too late; the tough guy launched the energy wave at the kid who easily dodged it by jumping high enough. The lost attack exploded after connecting with the wall behind him.

As the explosion made clouds of dust raise and spread everywhere, Gohan immediately began powering up and gathering energy to transform.

'_Immortal or not, I can still defeat him if I destroy him completely!'_ he thought.

As he powered up, he noticed something odd: he still didn't transform into a Super Saiyan. It seemed like he couldn't go beyond his normal state.

'_Why is this? I can't turn into a Super Saiyan?!'_

"Hey, boy, it isn't wise to lower your guard, you know?" said a voice behind him. He didn't have the time to react before he received a punch on his back that sent him flying down to Vinegar.

"You're mine!" he kicked him in the stomach hard, causing his heart to skip a beat and to cough. However, the brute didn't release him from the attack and kept pressing the kick to the right to send the child fly and crash on a wall, passing through it and about to land on the ground outside.

Gohan finally snapped out of the shock-state and used his unique hand to recover and get back to a fighting stance. Spice was the first to emerge from the building and rushed to attack him. The Saiyan warrior raised his hand above his head and gathered his KI.

"Masenko…" as spice arrived in front of him he had already charged enough energy into his attack and prepared to release it "HA!" he put his hand in front of him and fired the energy wave at his opponent who was directly caught in the blast.

After the attack passed through Spice, it went to hit the temple and explode inside and a loud boom could be heard as the explosion annihilated everything on its path.

The hybrid was sure that Garlic's first henchman was dead, now, but he knew that the other one and Garlic himself escaped somehow.

'_Where are they?'_ he wondered as he scanned the area, searching for the remaining enemies. He quickly got down as he heard the noise of a kick, about to hit him at neck level. He evaded the attack and, using his hand as a support, counterattacked with a double kick to the face of his aggressor, however, he was too small and his enemy too big, so the hit barely passed between his legs.

'_Darn it. Why am I so small? Why did I get back to my child form?'_ he asked himself.

"Heheh!" Vinegar laughed as he grabbed him by the legs and pulled him up to his face's level "Looks like you didn't grow up much since our last encounter! And where is your arm, by the way?"

'_Darn it!'_ he discreetly charged some KI into his palm while the tough alien was toying around with him.

"Anyways, you will PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO SPICE!" he shout, preparing to punch him with all his strength. But, at that moment…

"Explosive Madan!" he quickly put his hand on the chest of his opponent and released his attack. The Explosive Madan was a version of the Masenko that had a shorter range since it was more used for defensive purposes than offensive ones. But, if an enemy was close enough, it would deal considerable damages to the poor fool and that was the fate that Vinegar met: the attack passed through his chest and came out from his back, creating a huge hole there.

Vinegar released Gohan from his grasp and slowly began to fall backward.

"C-Curse… YOU!" he yelled his last curse before his body exploded, pushing everything around him away with clouds of dust and rocks flying everywhere.

_~Stop the music~_

The Saiyan quickly recovered from the explosion and got back to his feet, immediately scanning the place to find the final opponent remaining on the battlefield.

*clap**clap*

The sound of someone clapping his hands was soon heard by the child who turned to face the short Makyan.

"Oh, would you look at that? You just killed my two henchmen. Now, because of you, I'll have to do all the work myself!"

The Hybrid took back his fight stance, preparing to counter whatever the monster had in stock for him. However, the said monster didn't have any aggressive reaction for now; he was just staring at the young Saiyan with envious eyes.

"But, there is one thing I have to tell you, kid." He started with a vicious smile on his face "Ever since that day I kidnapped you, I knew about your powers: what enormous powers for a child your age! At first, I faired it, I admit it. But then, I thought 'why not make you my student and successor?' However, Piccolo had to steal that idea from me!"

He then opened his mouth once more "But, there is still a chance for you to change your mind. How about it? You could work with me and we could rule all over the world—no, the universe!"

Alas for Garlic, Gohan didn't even hesitate before rejecting his offer "My one and only teacher was Piccolo-san! I have nothing to do with the likes of you and I won't let you have your way!"

This rejection made the alien sigh "What was I hoping: you're just like your father, and the Demon King already corrupted your mind. I have no other choice then to destroy you like a pathetic insect!" with that, he began powering up: a huge transparent circled aura formed around him along with electricity. The outburst of power caused the ground around him to crack creating a crater.

At the same time, he began metamorphosing. First, his skin changed from its pale blue color to a dark blue one and his muscles' size was beginning to increase, tearing up his cloak to pieces and remaining in some black pants and white sash. At the end of this horrific transformation, he stood in front of Gohan even taller than before now, and began cracking his knuckles to intimidate him.

"But now, none of them are here to rescue you." He provoked.

"Huh! I am more than capable to handle you by myself. I am the son of Son Goku, NEVER FORGET THIS!"

_~Recommended music: Super Warrior Crushed! I'll be the winner~_

The young Saiyan rushed forward, preparing a punch to attack his enemy. Garlic Jr., on the other hand, prepared to block it with his own. Their two fists connected, creating a shock that destroyed the ground around them while they both struggled for domination.

'_The boy's stronger than the time we last fought.'_ he thought, pushing Gohan's fist away and attempting to hit him with his other hand.

"Kyaaa!" he charged his uppercut. However, the black-haired boy dodged to the right while pushing further the Makyan's hand, making him lose his balance. He immediately proceeded to counter-attack with a spinning kick to his back.

But Garlic had just enough time to get down and evade the hit, supporting his body with one hand. He then aimed his other hand at the Saiyan and charged a dark/red energy orb.

"Rot in hell!" he launched the giant beam at him which obliterate everything on its way. However, Gohan didn't get caught in the blast; he evaded just in time by flying up. He looked down, searching for the enemy, but he wasn't there anymore: only the crater of the attack and the remaining of the temple could be seen from here.

"Are you looking for me?" that voice belonged to the one he was looking for. He raised his head to see him descending at high speed toward him, charging a punch. The single-armed boy also prepared an attack to welcome him. The Makyan got closer and closer until…

"Prepare to die!"

"Take this!"

Their fists were about to connect once more, but Gohan's passed completely through Garlic's who began to fade upon entering in contact with his opponent.

'_An afterimage?'_ he didn't had much time to think more since he felt a presence appear behind him.

"Gotcha!" the alien spread his arms and crushed the kid in bear hug. But, he ended up catching nothing but air: his arms passed through the half-human's body the same way his passed though him earlier.

"Where are you hiding?!" he shout.

He suddenly felt a hand on his belly. The hand belonged to Gohan who was standing next to him and charging energy in his palm.

He released the energy ball, throwing it in the direction of the forest along with the Makyan. The ball sent him crash on several trees before finally blowing up, creating a considerable explosion.

_~Stop the music~_

(Meanwhile, some kilometers from the battle scene)

Two men were jumping from tree to tree, in the middle of the forest. They were both dressed in similar clothing: black pants and tops, grey flak jackets and gloves with metal arm-guards. They also wore black sandals and had their own swords strapped on their back. Another thing about them was that they both had a mysterious tattoo on their left shoulders.

As for their faces, there is no way to describe them since they both wore strange white animal masks, adding something scary about them.

As they were proceeding through the forest, they heard the sound of an explosion and saw in front of them smoke rising. One of them asked the other.

"Do you think it came from 'there'?"

"Maybe… We were just asked to investigate that temple in case there is something dangerous inside it."

"I can't believe Lord Hokage is giving us, ANBU, a mission of investigation."

"Yes, but who knows? There might actually be something up with it."

They stopped their conversation here and resumed their way in silence.

(Back to the battle)

Under a mass of tree trunks, there was Garlic Jr. who was trapped. Of course, with just a trick of his KI, he was able to free himself from it, but he wanted to think about the situation at hand first.

'_What a waste.'_ he thought _'This kid is very strong, it would have been very convenient if I succeeded in making him my most loyal henchman. Curse you, Piccolo: as always, you had to get in the way! Now, it is too late: he is by far stronger than I am. But, unlike him, I'm immortal! That's it! I'll seal him in the Dead Zone, for good this time!"_

Meanwhile, Gohan was flying above the damaged forest, searching for his enemy. He knew that, immortality aside; he survived the attack he took earlier.

'_Where is he hiding, again?'_ he wondered as his eyes scanned the area. However, he soon got the feeling that his surrounding was getting darker and darker. He raised his head to the sky and saw a familiar spectacle: clouds were covering the sky above him, but those clouds were dark and had a bit of red shade.

"Looking for someone?" he turned to face the owner of the voice who couldn't be anyone other than his enemy. The monster was in the air, charging his energy to the limit and enveloped in a golden light. His iris completely vanished from his eyes and he clenched his teeth. But the worst thing was what appeared behind him.

Junior created a huge black void behind him surrounded by swirling red auras. Gohan soon felt the void trying to suck him within it, but he fought it back and landed on the ground, struggling to stay on his feet using his KI.

"HAHAHA! Are you trying to fight back the power of the Dead Zone? HAHAH! Fight as much as you want: when you'll get tired, it will absorb you like you were nothing!" the Saiyan noticed that the trees around him were beginning to succumb to the pressure and their roots gave up the struggle. Nothing got spared: trees, plants, rocks, and even animals were sucked into that terrible spiral: such was the power of the Dead Zone.

Of course, this wasn't the first time the Hybrid was witnessing such a thing: he actually lived it twice. Both times, he was the one who sealed the Makyan in his own attack. The first time, he just pushed him inside out of anger while the second time, he had to direct his attack towards the source of power of the enemy itself: the Makyo Star. Now that he thought about it…

"How did you recover your powers? I destroyed the Makyo Star when we were on Earth!" he asked.

"Huhuhu! You would like to know, right? After you insects got in my way once more, the Makyo Star disappeared along with my powers! I thought that I would be stuck for the eternity, as I was wandering into space, moving from a galaxy to another with no freedom over my moves. However, I happened to pass by this unknown galaxy, and that galaxy actually had its own Makyo Star! I admit that I hardly believed it when it happened, but here I am, stronger than I used to be. And here you are, as weak and powerless as an insect that is just waiting to be crushed!" he explained, full of himself. The boy noticed that he dropped his guard and, hiding a malicious grin, asked.

"And where is that Makyo Star?"

"Fool! Don't you know? The Makyo Star has to be behind me in order for me to open the Dead Zone! It is even shining with its magnificent light, you can't miss it!" he said. Gohan indeed notice a shining light near the void of darkness that was pretty visible despite the presence of the dark clouds. He pointed it with his finger.

"You mean this one?" he asked.

"Of course, fool—!" he stopped in his sentence; he just noticed that from the beginning, he was being tricked _'Uh-oh…'_

The warrior of the future raised his hand above his head and charged it with power.

"MASENKO" he shout, staring at the scarlet light in the cloudy sky "HA!" he put his hand in front of his target and released a powerful golden beam enveloped with electricity. The attack traveled across the sky, passing next Garlic Jr. who was watching the results of his carelessness with wide eyes still missing their iris.

"NO!" the beam finally disappeared, followed by a massive explosion. After the smoke cleared, nothing of the Makyo Star remained. The golden aura enveloping the Makyan earlier vanished and his eyes were back to normal. His muscles' size began to decrease as well as his height: he was reverting back to his puny and small form.

It wasn't long before the Dead Zone sucked him as well, without him being able to do a thing about it.

"You'll pay for this, miserable insect!" he cursed before finally disappearing in the dark void which also started to fade after this, stopping its absorption and leaving the battlefield in an incredible mess.

After a moment, almost everything was back to normal, almost. The sky was once more clear and the area was quiet. Only the damaged land remained as a proof of the battle that occurred earlier with Gohan standing in the middle it.

'_Whew… to meet Garlic Jr., once more, is something I didn't expect.'_ he thought with a smile on his face. It was true that the Makyan and his henchmen were barely a problem for the Saiyan who has grown stronger since their last encounter. However, his smile quickly faded as he wondered _'Now that I think about it, I don't know where I am either: I'm pretty sure that I was fighting the Androids. Then, I don't really remember what happened. They were about to kill me and here I am. What happened?!'_

As the memories of his worst enemies came to his mind, he felt his blood boil _'Trunks… I wonder if you are alright…'_ his thoughts were interrupted as he sensed two KI's get closer to the place where he was _'Who's that? Their KI is low, but it is higher than normal people's. Are they enemies?'_

(Meanwhile, from the two men's perspective)

The masked men we saw earlier just arrived on the battlefield. They hardly believed what they were witnessing: cut trees were spread all over the place as well as rocks, stones and all kinds of debris. There were also craters everywhere, from small ones to impressively deep ones.

"What happened here?" asked one of the men as he was sweating bullets under his mask.

"I don't know. Could this be linked to the strange change of the weather from earlier?" wondered the other, referring to the moment Junior opened the Dead Zone.

"One thing is sure, this can't be good and we might actually be in danger." stated his comrade before scanning the area. He noticed the ruins of the temple "Look! Isn't it the temple we were asked to investigate?" he said, pointing at the collapsed building.

"I think so, let's see if we can find anything useful. Once we'll be done here, we'll return to Konoha to report everything to Lord Hokage." with that, they proceeded with their researches, lifting the debris with the hope of finding some clues about what could have caused such chaos.

Unknown to the both of them, someone was watching from above and heard their conversation _'Konoha? Hokage? What is the meaning of this? Garlic Jr. did mention earlier that we might be in a totally different galaxy.'_ he judged that it would be better to go away before they notice him, so he powered up and flew away.

One the unknown masked men raised his kept staring at the sky for a moment which didn't went unnoticed by his companion.

"What's wrong?" he asked, getting him back to reality.

"I think I heard something… Anyways, let's get back to business." he said, focusing back on his mission.

(Later, somewhere near Konoha)

Almost half an hour passed since Gohan fought Garlic Jr. and left the battlefield. He has been flying since then without knowing where to head. After all, this was a completely different planet located in an unknown galaxy and the people looked kind of intriguing to him, even if they seemed to be normal humans and he couldn't quite say that he was completely a human either; he was half of a Saiyan and half of a human.

As he was gliding over the green lands, he noticed, in the middle of nowhere, what seemed like a waterfall. He decided to land there and rest a bit.

He landed near the stream under the waterfall. There, he sat down on the grassy ground and crossed his legs while putting his arm on them; he closed his eyes and began meditating peacefully, his ears hearing nothing but the sound of the water crashing on the rocks putting his mind at ease.

'_How weird…'_ he thought _'I perfectly recall challenging the Androids and I remember that they caught me in their attack. I was sure that I was dying, but here I am, in this new world that I know nothing about and with no other explanation. Plus, what happened to my body? I feel so much younger. On top of that, this planet looks a lot like Earth; I barely see a difference between the two planets except in the power level of the inhabitant. Speaking of which, can I consider them allies or enemies? I don't know… Maybe I should-'_ suddenly, he felt a presence getting closer.

Indeed, there was someone who was passing by this area and noticed the child. He got behind a tree and began examining the boy: he sure was catching his attention as he was in the middle of his meditation.

'_Hum… This is an interesting young one.'_ he thought _'I sense great power emanating from him. Great power, yet clean of any evil: I lived long, but I have never sensed something like this before.'_

The Saiyan opened his eyes and prepared to hide somewhere when he heard someone speaking behind him.

"Good morning, boy. What are you doing alone here?" the voice was calm and had a peaceful tone to it. The lost warrior turned to face the owner of such a voice: it was an old man, a very old one. He had dark skin, grey hair and beard. He wore a white traditional clothing, a haori, with a red kimono underneath, tied with a white sash.

Gohan stared at him without saying a word; he was confused about whether to consider him an ally or an enemy.

"Who are you?" he finally managed to ask, keeping calm. The mysterious old man chuckled.

"Well, I think I asked you this question first, didn't I?" he said. The young boy didn't know why, but the man in front of him had a strange aura that put him at ease, making it hard consider him a nuisance.

"My name is Gohan. Son Gohan." he finally answered.

"Nice to meet you, Gohan. I am Konoha's third Hokage." now he remembered hearing about him earlier from the two mysterious men. So he was the 'Lord Hokage' they were talking about.

"N-Nice to meet you too, Lord Hokage." he politely replied, bowing as a sign of respect. It seemed his formality amused the man.

"Tell me, you are not from Konoha, are you?" he asked which surprised the Saiyan who was now even more intrigued by the Hokage.

"Well… no, sir. Actually, I don't really know where I am, right now." he said.

"So, you are not from any other village either?" he asked again, earning a shook from the boy's head. He walked forward, getting closer to the child "Do you have anywhere to go?"

"Uh…" the Hybrid hesitated.

"*chuckle* Why don't you accompany me to Konoha? You can tell me more about you one the way." The old man suggested.

The single armed fighter didn't know what to do: follow the man called Hokage that he just met and don't if can be trusted, or decline the offer and roam in those unknown lands with maybe no way to ever see his planet again.

'_I think that I should just go with him for now… I might just learn more about my current situation.'_ he finally decided.

He looked at Konoha's leader and nodded. The latter addressed him a gentle smile and turned to the other side.

"The village is this way, shall we go?"

"Yes sir!"

"Hahah! There is no need to be so formal, my boy: try to relax more."

Now, they were on their way to Konoha: The Village Hidden in the Leafs.

_And that is how a new adventure begins for Gohan. But, can he find a way to go back to Earth and help Trunks fight the Androids? And that man called Hokage, is he really worth being trusted? Discover it in the next chapter of this story!_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Yes yes, I know that most of you were expecting Gohan to go straight to Konoha in this chapter and encounter immediately Naruto and some of the other rookies and begin an utopian-like life and all. But, you are in my story, here and a lot of unpredictable events can occur… that's KeyToUnivers to you, guys! Plus, we can't expect our young half-Saiyan friend to always fall between the right hands.<strong>_

_**I hope you enjoyed this second chapter anyways! Again, if you have anything to complain about, feel free to do so, just like you did for the previous one. With that, I'll say 'till next time and take care!**_

_**UPDATE: When I posted this chapter, I forgot to mention that I created a poll so you can vote which team should Gohan be in. Do vote, please!**_


	3. Konoha

_**Disclaimer: this is a fanfiction, people. I don't own Naruto or Dragon ball in any possible way, and if you don't know those mangas/animes, then I really am wondering what you are doing here since chapter 1.**_

_**First, let me answer the guest's review and make things clear once and for all about Garlic Jr.**_

"_**_Justus: Let me give the reasons why I made Garlic Jr. appear for just a chapter. 1) I wanted him to play the role of a warm-up or tutorial for Gohan to use his new/old body and for him to notice that he lost the ability to transform. 2) I don't really have big plans for him to be a major villain in the story which immediately leads to the third point 3) I have already decided who would be the real main from Dragon Ball to appear in this story: and I am sure that you won't be disappointed, trust me!**_

_**Anyways, there is no need for you to apologize: your review was an opportunity to make things clearer about chapter 2. Thank you for reviewing and I hope you enjoy the coming chapters just as much!"**_

_**Before beginning this chapter, let me tell you in case some of you don't know it yet, that I created a poll so you can vote in which team Gohan should be. Please, do vote and remember that I'll close the poll around the time I post chapter 4.**_

_**Enjoy your reading!**_

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><p><strong>III\ Konoha: the Village Hidden in the Leaves<strong>

"So," Lord Hokage said, beginning a conversation with the boy he just encountered and breaking the silence they were stuck in "Can you tell me now what you were doing alone in the forest?"

"It is a long story, sir." he replied, scratching his head nervously. Meanwhile, the leader of Konoha was studying his guest's appearance: his scar on his face was something he just noticed upon being closer to him. The child should, at most, be 7 years old, how can he get such injuries? And that wasn't the only thing odd about him… the other thing was something he noticed when they first talked, but didn't want to bring it up right away.

"Gohan, can you answer my question?" he asked, staring at the boy's left sleeve, hanging in the air "Why do you only have one arm? Did you happen to have an accident of some sort?"

"Oh, my arm..." he repeated "I actually lost it during a fight."

Now, the Hokage was very curious: for a child, a child for crying out loud! To speak about such injuries he may have gotten so casually, this was very strange: as if fighting for his life was a daily matter to him.

'_Yes… a truly interesting young one.'_ he thought, leaving silence fall on them once more.

(A day earlier, in Konoha)

Konoha was a village located in the middle of the Land of Fire. People were also calling it 'The Village Hidden in the Leaves'. It was counted as one of the most powerful Hidden Villages among the others due to its rich history with the two founder clans: the Senjus and the Uchihas, and the other powerful clans living there.

But, why take interest in this village? Because of one person living there: a child around his 7 years old, rejected by all the villagers and that would have been already banished or even killed if it wasn't for the protection of the Third Hokage himself: thanks to the wise man, nobody could lay a finger on him without expecting punishment. And not any kind of punishment: whoever would try to harm the boy would pay the price with his life and honor, and be considered a traitor to the village. But, why do they reject him in the first place? He didn't know it himself.

Right now, this same boy was sitting on a swing in the ground in front of the Ninja Academy. He was sitting there; not even swinging like a normal child should because he was thinking. His small hands where holding the swing's ropes and his head was lowered.

Today has been just like any usual day… for him, that is: in the early hours of the day, as he was walking around the village as he usually did, two housewives stared at him with hate-filled eyes. One of them whispered to the other, loud enough for him to hear.

"Look, it's that damn monster."

"Yes, I can see him. Oh my god! He's looking our way with his cursed eyes." the other added, grimacing at the sight of the said 'monster'.

"Let's just ignore him: he doesn't deserve us to waste time looking at him." with that, they both got back to their shopping.

He really didn't know what made him a 'monster', he looked like any 6 year old boy: he had blond spiky hair and his eyes were blue, blue wasn't the specific eye color of the monsters, as far as he knew. If there was something that made him different, it was his whiskers on his cheeks, whiskers that he absolutely didn't mind at all. Plus, the old man Hokage told him that he was born with them, so he couldn't do much about it and it wasn't as if this was the reason everyone looked at him the way they do and ignore him.

Not so long after that, he passed near the bar, and a drunken man who just got out, pretended not to notice him and pushed him, knocking him down. As the poor boy fell on his back, the adult barely looked above his shoulder.

"Ah, didn't see ya…" he said in a drunken voice, walking away and avoiding getting any further in bullying him: even drunk he knew what would be waiting for him if he tried anything else on him.

…

This afternoon, his destination was the playground. Upon arriving there, the place was full of live and laughter. He entered and saw no familiar figures inside: the children were younger or older, maybe.

He moved a step forward and began getting the attention of the other kids who gave up their games and began staring at him silently. Suddenly, the happy mood ruling in the area faded to give room to an unsupportable heavy tension.

The boy with the whiskers turned around to see the children's parents who were throwing at him the same glare they always threw: the dark, murderous glares that he got used to see with all this time passing. It was their fault if their sons and daughters never played with him; they were the ones who put the seeds of 'hate' in their innocent kids, and the latter were not the ones to blame.

"What are you looking at?!" he angrily shouted at them "Stop… looking at me like this!"

He soon realized that his presence was unwanted and left the yard, running. The adults followed him with their cold eyes until he eventually disappeared from their field of view.

But, one question remained unanswered: who is that boy we are following since the beginning? His name is Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto was an orphan; he never knew his parents and never knew where they were: the Hokage always avoided the subject and some villagers would tell him indirectly, mainly through whispering loudly to each others, that his parents abandoned him and never cared about him.

As an orphan, Naruto normally would be on his own in the vast world of Ninjas, but as far as he could remember, Lord Hokage has always been the one taking care of him, mostly (he didn't remember who took care of him when he was a toddler, of course), and it was just recently that he was given an apartment of his own with the Hokage being the one paying, of course.

As the sun was setting, he walked aimlessly around the village, passing by the lake. He looked at the dock and saw another boy.

The boy had black hair and their shape made Naruto immediately think about something _'Duckbutt.'_ He was blankly looking at the water, with his head pressed on his hands.

But, that boy wasn't unknown to Naruto: his name was Sasuke Uchiha, one of his classmates and a very promising Ninja: pretty much the total opposite of Naruto who couldn't even perform the most basic Ninjutsu techniques. To say the truth, Naruto really disliked him, a lot.

Suddenly, Sasuke turned and faced the Uzumaki, as if he sensed his presence. They both looked at each other awkwardly for a moment before the blonde turned his head away rather violently and the other boy did the same.

With that, Naruto resumed his walk, but he felt a little better, for some reasons: he felt like he wasn't the only one to feel alone. This was a selfish feeling, but it did feel good. Even if he was seeing Sasuke as a rival, it was still a bond, the very first bond he ever formed in his early life.

…

He walked until he reached the Ninja Academy which was obviously his 'school' if you want to call it that way. In only two days, he would go back there and get back to work because despite being an incompetent Ninja, Naruto was giving his all every day. Even when he failed, he tried again and again to improve head on which was one of his biggest weaknesses: his lack of concentration. More than once, his teacher, Iruka, would scold him for this.

He spotted the swing and sat on it, just as he was doing now _'All day long… Wherever I go, everyone ignores me.'_ He thought, tired of the way the villagers were acting with him while he was doing nothing bad. Wait… he was doing nothing bad, and yet, they hated him?

He raised his head, and an evil grin formed in his face _'If they hate me for no reason, then why don't I give them a reason to? At least, I'm sure they'll notice me after that!'_

(Today, still in Konoha)

In the early afternoon, the usually peaceful village of Konoha was pretty agitated for some reasons. Right now, a huge crowd gathered in front of the Hokage Monument. This monument was actually a giant rock on which were carved the faces of all the Hokages that ruled on Konoha. There were four of them, actually. Then, why is the Third the one ruling right now? What happened to the Fourth? It is still a little too early to talk about this.

As said before, the villagers were all in front of the monument, _'admiring'_ it, or more exactly, admiring what happened to it: the faces of the mighty Hokages were all painted! Just as if feminine make-up was used on them in a disgusting way. Everyone was shocked.

"Could the dark and red clouds of earlier have a link with this?" some asked.

"Is it the end of the world?!" others asked.

"WAHOO!" soon, the sound of a boy cheerfully jumping from a rock to another was heard, as well as the one of two men.

"GET BACK HERE, BRAT!" as fast as their eyes could see, the crowd saw a blonde boy run away from the site with, behind him, two Chunins in their green vest chasing after him.

"Try to catch me, dattebayo!" that last word made the identity of the boy obvious: it was Naruto Uzumaki!

Naruto was running as fast as his small feet allowed him to. He was carrying on one hand a filled paint can, and on the other a brush, and his white T-shirt was all covered in red paint as well as his hands and face. But, the two men were getting closer, until eventually…

"GOTCHA!" shout one of them as he caught him by the back of his shirt, lifting him effortlessly from the ground while he was struggling to get free.

"Let me go!" he ordered.

"Looks like someone's heading to Lord Hokage's office now." he said, proceeding to quickly jump to the Hokage's place with the Uzumaki in his hand, and followed by his comrade.

(Back to Gohan and Third Hokage, in front of Konoha's Gates)

After walking for some time, the duo finally arrived to destination.

"This," said the old man "is the Village Hidden in the Leaves: Konoha."

Gohan raised his head until he his eyes met the top of the giant gate in front of them.

'_Hehe, that gate is almost half as high as Vegeta when he transformed into a great Ape.'_ He thought while scratching the back of his head.

"Lord Hokage?" he asked.

"Yes, Gohan?"

"You said that there are other villages out there, in this world, right? Are they as big as Konoha?"

"The Hidden Villages are pretty similar to their respective environment: Konoha, for example, is surrounded by vast forests and green lands. This symbolizes the 'leaf'."

He marked a pause before resuming "Asking me this question is a good opportunity to suggest you something: why don't you become a Leaf Ninja? I feel that you have great potential for this."

"A Leaf… Ninja?" the warrior repeated puzzled.

"Yes, it would be the best way for you to learn more about the place and to make new friends. You did say that you were not from any other village, am I right?"

Gohan thought for a moment: maybe becoming one of those 'Leaf Ninjas' would give him more hints about his situation and find a way to go back to Earth and see Trunks again.

"I'll think about, Lord Hokage." Gohan said. The man just smiled at the young boy and finally invited him to enter the village.

Once inside, they headed to the Hokage's office. On their way, a lot of villager greeted the old man with something of uneasiness in their behavior, and looked suspiciously at the Hybrid, especially his hanging sleeve.

"It looks like walking around with one arm is pretty weird…" he noted.

"Indeed, we should find a way to at least hide it. We don't have any ways to restore a part of a body, alas."

"Hehe, don't worry, I got used to it those past months." He said giving the famous Son grin. The Hokage felt a sweat drop cooling on the back of his head.

…

"What is this?!" the old man suddenly shouted, looking at something in the distance. The half-Saiyan looked at the direction the man was looking and saw the result of Naruto's work.

"It seems someone painted the faces on this rock."

(Inside the Hokage's Office)

They hurried to the office, and once they entered two men were already there, with a child.

"Lord Hokage!" said one of them upon seeing them "The monument…" he was cut in his sentence by the Hokage.

"I saw it. Did you find the culprit?" he asked.

"Yes, sir." He answered, staring at Naruto who was sitting on the chair in front of the desk, crossing his arm and pouting.

"Naruto?! You are the one behind this?" the old man asked in disbelief.

"Yes, old man Hokage, I did it!" he answered.

The Hokage turned to the Chunins and ordered them "You may leave." The Ninjas nodded and left in a cloud of smoke.

***Poof***

"Why, Naruto? Why did you do this?!" he scolded, finally getting back to the blond child. But despite his anger, he knew the real reasons: the poor boy had enough of being considered like a ghost and all he wanted was to attract attention. The elder remembered that Gohan was still here and while looking at him, he addressed Naruto.

"By the way, let me introduce to you Son Gohan. Gohan, the boy in front of you is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto, since Gohan is new to the village, I wanted to ask you something: could you guide him around here? If you do so, I might forgive you for what you have done earlier."

Naruto and Gohan looked at each other for a moment.

'_He's new to the village… maybe he could become…'_ Naruto thought, as his eyes bright with hope.

"That works with me!" he enthusiastically said.

"Well, I'll be glad too, Naruto!" Gohan said, also happy.

"Naruto," the Hokage said, getting back into the conversation "You may leave for now. I need Gohan for a moment."

"I'll wait outside, then." Naruto said, getting out of the office as fast as lightning.

…

The old man took the pipe that was lying on his desk and began smoking. He then looked at Gohan and asked him.

"Gohan, before you join the Ninja Academy, you will have to be officially a villager of Konoha: that is why I will need you to tell me more about you and your origins."

"Okay then…" the Saiyan said, hesitating a little. After all, who would believe that: he came from another planet, that he was the descendant of a race of elite warriors, and that he was at least fifteen years older than what looked like? Nobody in their sane mind, of course.

"What I am about to tell you is something you might not believe, and I don't have with me anything to prove that I am saying the truth." he warned.

"Say it anyways; I don't think you can lie about it." With the old man giving him the signal to begin talking, Gohan began thinking about where to start.

"First, would you believe me if I told you that I am not even from this planet?" he asked.

"You mean that you come from another planet?!" shouted the Third in disbelief, almost dropping his pipe. He took a moment to calm down and asked the Saiyan to resume "Please continue."

"So, my home planet is Earth: it is where I lived most of my life with my family and friends. But…," he marked a pause, composing his ideas: he preferred keeping the fact that he was half an alien a secret for now. "But when I was fighting two _monsters_ and was falling unconscious, I woke up here, in this world."

"Earth? I never heard of that planet before… and what are those monsters you were talking about, earlier?"

"Two powerful enemies who treated to destroy my world: I tried to stop them, but they were stronger than anything I've faced before!"

'_Which explains why he seems to come out of a war… but isn't he too young?'_

'_Trunks… please stay alive until I come back to help you.'_ he silently prayed. The Hokage noticed the dark expression on the boy's face.

'_He isn't telling me everything, but it is obvious that the least he said is true.'_ the elder thought "Isn't there anything else you can tell me about yourself? Back in your planet, did people use something called Chakra?"

"Chakra? What is that?" the warrior asked confused.

"Then how did you fight? Chakra is a combination of both you physical and spiritual strength: you can't perform your Jutsus without it: it is the source of your power, but you also need to perform hand seals." he explained.

"This sounds easy."

"But most of the techniques require your two hands…"

"Oh, I see… Anyways, that sounds like the description of KI, the energy I used back in my world. KI is the vital energy within anyone's body, but you don't need 'hand seals' to perform an attack."

"Vital energy?!" he exclaimed "Isn't it dangerous to use it? It can consume your life, right?"

"Yes, but if you can master it, you will be able to control the amount you use with no risks, even though some attacks are still dangerous for even the more experienced users." Gohan said, remembering how Tien Shinhan's Tri-Beam costed him his life the first time he died.

'_I lived long…'_ thought the Hokage while smoking _'and yet there are so many things I have yet to learn.'_ he then looked at his guest and asked "Can you demonstrate your abilities with the 'KI', please?"

Gohan nodded and raised his unique hand and began focusing his energy on his palm. Soon, a sphere of energy formed on it and swirled around itself.

"Here you go." he said, canceling his energy ball.

'_A power even greater than Chakra…'_ thought the wise man "I see… I don't think you will want to choose Chakra over you existing powers, but who knows? It would still be good to learn its basics: that is why I invite you to join the Ninja Academy."

"I gladly accept your offer, Lord Hokage." the Saiyan said with a smile.

"Good then. But, there is still one thing to do to make you an official Konoha villager: we have to design a clan of your own."

"A clan?"

"Yes: Clans are like different families with their own members and their own characteristics. Most of them have their very own 'Bloodline limits'."

"Hmmm… So basically, a clan is more like a race, right?"

"If you want to say it that way, yes, but it is still a strange way to describe them."

"Then my 'clan' here could be named… The Saiyan Clan." he said, even though he was only Half-Saiyan himself.

"Saiyan… You mean, the SAIYANS?! The planets mercenaries of Planet Vegeta?!" he asked, apparently aware of their existence "My boy, how do you know about their existence? Their Planet was destroyed years ago; it disappeared! Nobody is supposed to know about them, nowadays!"

It looked like Gohan dug his own grave… Now he couldn't lie anymore about his other half of blood.

"W-Well, it's kind of complicated…" he said getting a nod from the Sarutobi who wanted to hear the story.

"Planet Vegeta was destroyed several years ago. But, there actually were five survivors who happened to be away from the planet. The youngest of them was a baby who was sent on Earth to conquer it."

'_Was it him?"_ the Hokage wondered.

"However, this same Saiyan hit his head while falling from a cliff and forgot everything about his origins and his personality changed from an aggressive beast to the one of a calm child. This Saiyan was none other than my own father."

"Then you are a descendant of that race?" asked the Third.

"I actually am Half-Saiyan from my mother's side. Plus, there isn't any other Saiyan left: they all died. Three of them were evil and we had to kill them, one of them actually joined us but was killed by the enemies we were talking about earlier along with most of my friends."

"So, you are the last Saiyan remaining?" asked the old man, getting a shook from the Hybrid.

"There is also the son of the Saiyan who joined us: we were the last line of defense of our planet, but here I am: stuck here, and I don't even know if he's still alive! He is all alone between the hands of those heartless monsters and I can't even help him!" the poor boy began losing his cool: for the first time since they met, he raised his voice and freed his anger which surprised Lord Hokage.

When he went all out fighting the Androids, he went there with the goal of protecting Trunks with his own life: ultimately destroying the foes or dying there, the conscious clear from any regrets. He didn't want to find himself in another world at peace, away from the battlefield where he left his brother.

The leader of Konoha felt bad for Gohan: for a child his age to be introduced to horrible things such as wars, violence and deaths of people close to him, this was unthinkable and sad. Speaking of which, he didn't know yet how old the boy was.

"Sorry about this: you are not responsible for what is happening to me, right now." the warrior apologized, looking down in shame.

"Do not worry about it, Gohan. If you are from another planet, I really don't know how to help you: traveling between planets is something impossible for us." The kind old man told him "By the way, I still don't know how old you are."

"Oh… Uh… Well…" now that he thought about it, he didn't know himself: he should be a 23 years old adult, but he somehow got younger… but how much? Suddenly, something like a flash hit his head and he immediately said "I'm seven years old, sir."

"The same as Naruto." pointed the elder, trying to get away from the subject they were stuck in earlier "Speaking of him, he must have been waiting for you for a moment. You can join him, now. But first, I already invited you to join the Ninja Academy, right? So to let you know, the classes will begin in two days. I will be expecting you to take this opportunity to get more familiar with Konoha and its inhabitants, and also to befriend your classmates."

"Fine, then."

"But first, we should find you a place to stay. Why don't you take the available apartment next to Naruto's? You would rather live close to your friends, right?" he walked to his desk and opened a drawer. He searched inside it and took a key and coins that he handed to the warrior "Here is the key and some money: use it for food and to get something to hide your injury."

"Thank you very much, Lord Hokage. And about my Clan name, I think I will avoid the 'Saiyan' as you suggested and go for one like the 'Son'." Gohan said.

"Yes, it would be wiser to take your family name. I am happy to tell you that you are now officially a villager of Konoha." He marked a pause before resuming "Gohan, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"It is about Naruto."

"Yes?"

"Well, most of the villagers don't quite appreciate him, and he doesn't have many friends: I am asking you to be especially nice with him, he is not bad kid and he feels really lonely since he doesn't have parents."

"Why would the villagers dislike him? Isn't he a child like the others?" questioned the Saiyan.

"Alas," the elder shook his head "he is different from the others: he has something special and that is why everyone avoids him. All I am asking you is to make him feel less alone. Can you do that for me?"

"No problem, I'll be his friend."

"Thank you Gohan, I hope the two of you get along well."

"We will. Thank you, Lord Hokage, and goodbye." the Saiyan said getting out of the office, silently.

'_Son Gohan… I hope he finds happiness here, in Konoha.'_ thought Sarutobi, smoking his pipe with a smile on his face.

(Outside the Hokage's Tower)

Gohan stepped out of the Hokage's Tower and immediately saw Naruto who has been waiting here for almost an hour.

"Man, I have been waiting here for an eternity! What were you doing up there with old man Hokage?" the energetic blond asked.

"Well, he needed me to tell him some things about… Naruto? What are you looking at?" the black haired boy asked, noticing that Naruto was staring at a part of his body while his was shaking.

"W-W-Where is y-y-your ARM?!" he shouted in horror, apparently noticing Gohan's missing arm.

'_How many times was I asked this question today?'_ he wondered, sighing.

"No need to be worried, it is no big deal, really." he tried to calm the Uzumaki down, scratching the back of his head.

"I've never seen that kind of thing before, dattebayo…"

"By the way, do you know any clothes store or something like that?"

"Ummm…" Naruto began thinking, closing his eyes and scratching his cheek with his finger "Oh yeah! There is one in the village. Let's go!" he said, running. Gohan immediately began following him.

…

When Naruto stopped, they were both in front of a shop. Just like the others, it was mostly made with wood and was pretty small.

"You can enter." The blond kid said, staying back.

"Aren't you coming inside with me?" the Hybrid asked confused with the attitude of his companion.

'_If he discovers how the villagers treat me, I can say goodbye to the hope of having a friend!'_ the Uzumaki thought.

"Well, I don't think you will take too long, so no need for me to come with you!"

"If you say so…" he said. He entered the shop and looked around him: even if it was small, it was well organized. All kinds of clothes were exposed inside, the ones for males on a side and the ones for females on another. On the walls were suspended all kinds of hats while on the floor he could see shoes, mostly sandals.

"Good afternoon, my boy." said a voice coming from the front. Gohan found himself facing the shop's owner: an old lady wearing glasses "What brings you to my shop?"

"Well, ma'am, I wanted to know if…" he thought for a moment, not sure of what kind of vest he wanted. He wanted something that would hide his arm since he would have to interact more with children his age, thing he never did before and made him quite nervous. But at the same time, he wanted something that would fit with his current outfit. An image of his father wearing piccolo's white cloak popped in his head and he smiled a little.

"Yeah, I wanted to know if you could make me a white cloak and add some weights to them, please?" he asked. The lady chuckled.

"Oh my, you want to train with weights already? Children your age shouldn't, it could ruin you small bones." she said, amused. So training with weights wasn't unusual here, after all.

"Don't worry ma'am, I'm used to those kinds of trainings." he said, doing his best not to expose the other side of his body so she doesn't notice his missing arm. Conveniently, the lady seemed to have some optical problems which made it easier for him.

"How much does your cloak have to be weighting? And how is its shape?" she asked

"I actually want the cloak to cover my arms and to have shoulder guards… and its total weight should be around… 300 Kilos!" he explained: he needed to become strong enough so when he comes back to Earth, he'll be strong enough to defeat 17 and 18.

There is no need to describe the expression of the shopkeeper whose eyes were almost out of their lobs "300 Kilos?!" she repeated in disbelief and shock "Do you want to end your life?!"

"No, I want to train with them. Is it possible, please?" he asked. She readjusted her glasses and opened the door behind her, entering another room.

"I'll be back." she said, closing the door behind her.

…

…

Gohan stood in the middle of the room for almost half an hour, doing nothing. He was thinking about how it would be to live as a Ninja. When you told him about the ordinary ninjas, he would immediately think about Clans, people wearing black outfits, kunais… he was really far from expecting to encounter them in real life, and he wasn't suspecting the existence of Hokages and such things.

The positive point was that Ninjas constantly had to train to get stronger which was pretty convenient for him, if you asked his opinion. He remembered that even after his father's death, his mother was still obsessed with him studying to become a scholar which was one of the reasons he left his home years after that: to train without being disturbed.

But still, he missed his mother a lot: she wanted nothing but his well-being… and all of this because of the Androids' tyranny which made his hate towards them even greater.

Finally, after a long enough wait, the old woman came out of the room "Come and tell me if you are satisfied with the cloak. But trust me, it is very heavy, so if you see that you overestimated your capacities, I'll reduce the weights."

Gohan entered the room which obviously was the sewing room where the shop owner would take care of preparing her customers' clothes. There were also many sorts of materials on the room's shelves: fabrics of all colors, steel, smithy tools…

"Here is your cloak." she said pointing at Gohan's new outfit. He walked toward it and tired to lift it: it sure was heavy, just as he wanted it. The cape itself really looked like Piccolo's, just covering the arms in addition.

"I had it ready and all that I needed to do was to add an impossible quantity of weights. I doubt you will be able to lift…" she stopped in the middle of her sentence as she saw the warrior grab the cape and wear it.

"Thank you, ma'am! How much do I owe you for this?" he asked.

"Six… Thousand… Ryos…" she said, with her mouth wide open.

'_So that's their currency… Back in my world, we used Zenis.'_ Gohan searched in his pocket and took the money Lord Hokage gave him: he had a total of 10000 Ryos! He paid the woman and got out of the store where he found a half asleep Naruto, pressing his back against the wall of the shop.

"Hey, I'm back." The blond jumped back, apparently he really was about to sleep there.

"You took so long…" he looked at Gohan's cape with lights in his eyes "This looks cool!"

Suddenly, a small noise was heard.

"What was that?" the Saiyan asked, looking all around the area.

"Heheh, I think it was my stomach." the whiskered boy said. Right after that, an enormous noise was also heard.

"And I think this one was mine…" the other kid said with his signature grin.

"I know! Why don't we go to Ichiraku?"

"Ichiraku? Is it a restaurant?"

"Yes! Old man Teuchi sells the best Ramen of the world!" Naruto enthusiastically said.

"Why not?"

"Great! Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!" the blond began singing happily _'I can't wait to eat my Ramen with a friend!'_

…

They walked until they arrived in front of a restaurant; one of those traditional restaurant that where only separated from the outside by a curtain and that had a bar with some chairs in front of it. Upon entering, they saw a middle aged man with slanting eyes. He had a chef hat and a white cooking apron.

"Hey, Naruto." he greeted "Here for some Ramen, right?" he then noticed Gohan's presence with the prankster and smiled, apparently happy "Oh, you made a friend? That's great! Let's celebrate: you two can eat as much of my Ramen as you want, for free today!"

"Great! Thanks old man Teuchi!" to say the truth, the cook was very happy to see Naruto with a friend: he and his daughter, Ayame, were among the rare villagers who treated the blond normally. They even considered the kid 'their best regular customer' and would sometime, on special occasions, let him have free Ramen. And today was a special occasion; Naruto finally had a friend with him, a friend his age, the second bond he ever had right after Sasuke, his rival.

They sat in front of the bar and Teuchi put a bowl of Ramen in front of each of them. They immediately grabbed their chopsticks and began eating their noodles at high speed.

'_That kid's appétit is just as healthy as Naruto's…'_ the chef thought while looking at the Saiyan, preparing more of his Ramen.

…

Some minutes later, the bar's table was full of empty bowls: five were aligned near Naruto and fifteen in front of Gohan… who still was eating an sixteenth! The two others were looking at him in shock as he was devouring his meal with the same appétit he had when he started eating.

'_He eats even more than me?!'_ thought Naruto.

'_Saying that he ate as much as Naruto was an understatement… HE EATS WAY MORE! Am I really cooking for free?'_ Teuchi wondered, discovering the never ending hunger of the Saiyan Race.

"B-By the way, boy: we still didn't get introduced. I've never seen you around here, right?" said the cook, starting a conversation with the Hybrid. Gohan swallowed the noodles in his mouth down his throat and answered.

"Sorry, sir. My name is Son Gohan, and I am new to Konoha."

"Nice to meet you, Gohan. I am Teuchi, Konoha's Ramen cook. But, you know this already since you already ate 'some' of my Ramen…" he said, looking again at the mess of bowls in front of him.

"Old man Teuchi! Do you know why the sky became black this morning?" Naruto asked, remembering the strange result of Gohan and Garlic Jr.'s fight. The Saiyan, understood it and decided to stay silent for the moment, a little embarrassed to have something to do with it.

"Oh, I saw it too. Umm, I wonder what happened: maybe it's just some evil spirits that came to warn us about our behaviors…" the cook said, trying to scare the kids "Speaking of which, Naruto, what was the big idea? Painting the Hokages' faces like this is far from being recommended, you know?"

"I did it because…" he grabbed his chopsticks and pointed it at the man "one day, I am going to surpass all four of them, and become Hokage myself, Dattebayo!"

The words of the enthusiastic blond made Teuchi smile, and the Saiyan question himself.

"You want to be the village's next leader?" he asked.

"The Hokage isn't only the leader of the village: he's the strongest Ninja of the country!"

'_I did sense that Lord Hokage's was stronger than all the people here, but now I'm sure about it…'_ the Hybrid's thoughts were interrupted by a voice coming from inside the shop.

"Dad! I am back!" said the voice of a child behind the man.

"Oh, Ayame. You brought all what I asked you to get?" he asked.

"Yes, dad."

"Ayame, would you come here for a second?" he asked, before turning back to Gohan "Let me introduce to you my daughter, Ayame."

A girl came in front of them; she was around here twelve years old and had brown long hair and eyes, she wore a white apron and bandana. Her hair was held in a ponytail.

"Yes?" she asked before noticing the presence of the boys "Oh, hi Naruto, and…" she looked at Gohan, thinking if she knew him or not.

"Ayame, this is Gohan, he's new to Konoha." her father said, introducing them.

"Oh, nice to meet you, Gohan-kun." she said, smiling.

"Uh… Nice to meet you too, Ayame-san." Gohan said, his face becoming slightly red: it seems impossible, but he never met a girl his age before: the only persons from the opposite gender he knew were: his mother, Bulma and Lunch… all of them were older ladies, after all.

"Anyways," said Teuchi, getting back inside the conversation "did you have enough, Gohan?" he asked looking once more at the pile of empty bowls in front of the boy who, upon noticing how much he ate, scratched his head, nervously laughing.

'_Hihi, he's cute…'_ the girl thought, slightly blushing while looking at the new villager.

"By the way, Naruto." Gohan said, this time talking to Naruto "Can you show me more around here, especially the Ninja Academy?" he asked.

"No problem! Let's go!" he answered, getting up from his seat.

"OK, thanks for the meal, Teuchi-san!" Gohan said, also getting up and bowing to thank him which surprised the cook.

'_Nowadays' youngsters aren't this polite… is he really Naruto's friend?'_ he wondered.

"Um… sure, glad you enjoyed you meal." he said, waving at the two young boys who were now heading to the Academy. He and his daughter then stared back at the army of empty bowls on the bar.

'_Polite, but eats a lot… to think that they ate all this for free...'_ he thought.

…

As the sun was setting, the two new friends were heading to the Ninja Academy, the place that would be Gohan's new school in a couple of days. Actually, this would be his very first time in a real school with a teacher and classmates. Whatever Ninjas were learning in their schools, he was very excited to attend classes for the first time.

On their way, Gohan noticed that a lot of people were looking at them: at him with curious eyes and at Naruto with disgusted ones which made the warrior remember Lord Hokage's words.

"Naruto?" he asked.

"What?"

"Why do I feel that everyone is not happy to see you? You did paint the Hokage's Monument, but this isn't a reason for them to hate you, right?"

"That monster again!" said the housewife Naruto saw the previous day, talking again with a friend of hers "Whenever he's around, there is always a catastrophe about to land upon us."

At this moment, Naruto's usually happy expression changed to a sad one. His head was now hanging low, with his sorrowful eyes looking down. His chin was trembling, showing that he was at the verge of tears.

"There is no need to hide it anymore, right?" he said "The villagers… They… They all hate me since forever. And I don't even know why!"

"You mean, they've always been like this with you?!" the Saiyan asked, shocked to learn such a thing.

"Yeah, wherever I go, it's always about me being a 'monster' or being ignored. That's why I did that prank in the first place! I wanna show them that I exist!" he shouted. Then, he raised his head and the sadness in his eyes was replaced by burning flames of determination.

"And that's why I'll become the next Hokage: they will acknowledge my strength, Dattebayo!" he yelled, making sure that all the people around them heard it which worked, since they turned to face him, before getting back to the matters they had in hand.

Gohan stared at Naruto as he was now smiling confidently, before smiling himself.

'_I can't help but see Trunks through him… Naruto Uzumaki, you really seem to be something.'_ He thought.

"Then I'll help you to become stronger. Is that OK with you?" he asked.

"For real?" the blond asked, surprised that the warrior was still even willing to speak with him.

"For real, we're friends, after all." he said. Those words had a strong impact on the lonely child: he never heard them from anyone before, let alone from a friend.

"Anyways," the Hybrid said "where is that Academy? Are we getting closer?"

"Oh, yeah! It right there!" he pointed a huge building by his index finger: it was right under the Hokage's Mountain and was connected to the Hokage's office. It also had the kanji word for 'Fire' written on it (火). They both approached it.

"Woah! So the Academy is connected to Lord Hokage's office? It sure looks huge: I bet it must be fun to study there with teachers and classmates." the impressed Saiyan said, causing the blond to fall back with his legs up.

"Are you crazy?! This, FUN?! This is hell: once inside, you can't get out for the next six hours! SIX HOURS OF CLASSES, DATTEBAYO!"

"I thought it was good to learn new things…" the nerdy side of Gohan said.

"Yeah, you mean boring: just wait 'till you see it yourself." apparently, the two of them will never agree one that point. The sun's light was beginning to fade even more: night was coming.

"It late… maybe we should head back home." the Hybrid said, looking at the sun that was beginning to disappear behind the far away mountains and at the red/orange twilight sky that left some stars appear already.

"Where do you live, by the way?"

"According to Lord Hokage, my new house is right next to yours." that last bit of information caused a big smile to draw on the whiskered boy's face.

"Really? That's cool!" they then turned back and headed to their apartments while happily talking about all kind of things such as: the different distractions Naruto had in Konoha, Ramen, their teacher whose name was Iruka, Ramen, Naruto's next prank… and Ramen.

…

By the time they arrived home, it was already dark outside: the streets were lightened by lampposts and were filled with people joining their domiciles. They entered the building and climbed some stairs before Naruto stopped.

"Here it is! I live here." He said, looking at a door before turning to the one next to it "And your apartment must be there."

"Thanks, Naruto." Gohan said, searching in his pocket for the key of his new place "Well, see you tomorrow."

"See ya!" the blond waved goodbye to his new friend, taking his own key and entering his apartment. They closed their doors at the same time.

…

Gohan entered his apartment, locking the door behind him. His hand, then, searched for the switch to turn on the light.

Once he found it and turned it on, he was able to scan the room where he was: he had in front of him a small kitchen with all what he needed if he wanted to cook something. But of course, he didn't know how to cook, so it was mostly useless, except the fridge which could be useful to keep his drinks (water, lemonades…) fresh.

There also was, in the middle of the room, a small square table with four chairs and an empty vase on it. He soon noticed two doors: the closest one was to his right, and the second in the other side of the room.

He first opened the closer door and took a look at what was behind it. He in front him what seemed to be the bathroom, a pretty simple one with: sink, shower…

He closed the door and decided to check the last room which was none other than the bedroom. Again, it was small room and surely the one where he would spend most of his time in the house, resting/sleeping. The room obviously had a bed, a desk which would be useful if he had anything to write, an alarm clock near the bed, a closet and a bookcase which's shelves didn't contain any books yet.

'_So this is where I'll live for the time being, huh?'_ he thought. Not that he wasn't satisfied with it, but…

'_Well, I need to sleep, now.'_ with that, he took off his cape and slowly put on the ground, near his bed. He also removed his orange top and boots, putting them inside his closet. He turned off the lights and got under the cover, trying to get some rest after the events of the day (fighting Garlic Jr., meeting the Hokage and Naruto…).

(Gohan's Dream)

_~Music Recommendation: The monster Freeza v.s the Legendary Super Saiyan~_

Gohan was walking in the streets of a big city, crowded with people walking everywhere. It looked like any usual day in this place: the giant buildings around him, the blue sky above, the sound of people and cars…

As the Saiyan was walking, he noticed that the further he was proceeding, the further the noise around him would fade and the lower the crowd around him would be.

…

He was still walking. Now, his whole environment changed from the active city he was to a disturbing vast space: the voice of the people and the people themselves disappeared, he was beginning to notice cracks on the roads and on the buildings, and the blue sky was beginning to get covered with dark clouds.

***BOOM***

Soon, the silence was broken by huge explosion that shook the ground. Gohan closed his eyes and used his hand to protect himself from the blinding light.

When he re-opened them, what surrounded him was total chaos: almost all the buildings around him have collapsed and the whole place was now submerged by fire. The noise of the people came back to his ears, but this time, it wasn't the normal sound of talks; it was all about screams of horror and panic.

He looked around him and saw a corpse, lifelessly lying on the ground. He hesitantly approached it, stepping on the chaotic road, and when he got close enough, he recognized the person in front of him.

"Yamcha-san!" he called, running to his side and kneeling. He tried shaking his body and calling him, but no answer came from the bloody body: he was dead.

The Hybrid raised his head only to see…

"Tienshinhan-san! Krillin-san!" his two bald companions were also on the ground, covered in blood and burns they surely got from fire beams. Gohan stood in the middle of this apocalypse, powerless, until a voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"Don't just stand here doing nothing, son of Kakarot!" that voice was way too familiar for him, even after all those years.

"V-Vegeta-san?" to his right was a man with black hair and eyes. He wore a white damaged armor, blue clothes and white gloves and boots.

"You're a Saiyan: a race of proud warrior! Fight as one!" as he pronounced those words, a furious golden aura enveloped him and his eyes' color changed from black to green and his hair from black to blond. He flew off at high speed, right through the fire barrier in front of them.

Sounds of violent punches connecting and explosions were heard, before a final scream followed by a succession of blasts reached the Half-Saiyan's ears… silence, then, ruled again.

Gohan used his KI to clear the path in front of him and get rid of the fire. He ran inside the devastated field where Vegeta fought, but found nothing left of the Saiyan Prince, nor of his opponents: only the craters remained as a proof of the battle.

"Gohan!" called another familiar voice above him. He raised his head to see a green skinned man that he knew too well, flying in the air.

"Piccolo-san!" he powered up and flew to join him as fast as he could.

As he was getting closer to the Namekian, something appeared in front of him, preventing him from progressing. The 'thing' that was standing on his way was a man with blue eyes and black shoulder-length hair. The red ribbon-shaped logo drawn on his black T-shirt and his orange bandana wrapped around his neck made his identity no mystery to the young boy who felt his blood boil upon recognizing him.

"Seventeen!" he shouted with venom in his voice.

"Good, you remembered my name, Gohan." He said ironically, a mocking smile on his face.

The kid immediately tried to punch his enemy in the face with his unique hand, but his attack was effortlessly dodged by the Android.

"Too slow!" he then tried another punch which was dodged just like the previous one, and then he released a fury of kicks and punches, all dodged/blocked like nothing.

'_Darn it.'_ He thought as he was flying away from his enemy, catching up his breath.

"Tired already? I wonder if Goku would have been more challenging than that, if he didn't die that is." suddenly, the Hybrid noticed something falling from the sky. Upon looking better, the thing revealed itself to be Piccolo who got defeated by Android 18.

"Piccolo-san!" he now ignored 17 and rushed at high speed to catch his mentor who was about to crash on the ground.

'_Just a little more!'_ he extended his hand to catch the Namekian. He was going to arrive right in time _'That's it!'_ he was about to get a grip on his purple gi when…

***BOOM***

As he was about to catch him, a KI blast came to hit the green skinned alien and exploded upon entering in contact. The explosion pushed Gohan back at high speed before he recovered. He saw a massive cloud of smoke enveloping the area where he last saw Piccolo. He then saw the corpse of the latter emanate from the smoke, spinning, before finally crashing on a building which collapsed on him. One thing was sure: he was dead.

"P-Piccolo-san!" the desperate call of the Saiyan was, of course, not getting any answer. He flew as fast as he could where his teacher landed, but instead of getting closer, he had the feeling that he was actually getting further away from the spot, as if sucked by some invisible void.

Soon, he far enough to see the whole city becoming smaller and smaller as he was being sucked away from it, until he was far enough to see the whole Earth.

Even from space, he could hear the sadistic laugh of the Androids which was a torture for his ears.

"No… No!" he yelled.

_~End of the Music~_

(Gohan's Dream Ends)

"NO!" Gohan suddenly woke up from his nightmare, covered in sweat and out of breath. He sat on his bed, catching back his breath and collecting his thoughts back. That was right: he was in that village called Konoha… far from his planet… far from the Androids who surely were killing more people as he was here, sleeping. He looked at the clock to see that it read 1:00 a.m.

'_DARN IT ALL!'_ he got up and opened the closet to take his boots and wore them, not taking his gi or cape. He rushed out of the apartment and made his way out of the village. Where was he going? As far as possible from here: he needed to be alone for now.

…

As he arrived in front of the gates of Konoha, he saw that they were closed: of course, the security was reinforced at night for obvious reasons. He silently began powering up and, quickly looking if anybody was around, took off, flying above the high walls of the village.

What he ignored was that there actually was someone watching him from far away with a crystal ball, but thankfully, the person was someone of trust.

'_Hum… Gohan, what is wrong with you?'_

…

When Gohan stopped flying, he was right above the waterfall where he encountered Lord Hokage. He decided to land there.

'_I need… I need to become strong enough to face them again! They will pay!'_ he furiously thought, determined to sacrifice everything to get back to the Androids and defeat—no, destroy them! Because of them, he lost all the important people to him… or so he was thinking right now.

He began charging energy into his whole body, preparing to divide it. A golden aura enveloped him, completely covering him.

"Hnnn… YAA!" suddenly, another Gohan appeared right in front of him: a perfect copy that you couldn't distinguish from the other!

The Saiyan looked at himself right into the eyes, before both jumped backward, taking their fighting stances.

"THEY WILL PAY!" he shouted, as he and his clone charged at each other at high speed, each preparing a fist.

…

…

After several minutes of none stop assaults, the hybrid stood mid-air, barely able to breathe. His whole body was covered with blood and bruises, and his clothes were a thorn mess, now. He just managed to K.O. his copy which immediately after vanishing gave him back his full power, and also his share of damages.

During that fight, he tried again to transform into a Super Saiyan however, he was unable to get his power boost. He also noticed that he was getting tired way too fast, surely because of that body of his.

"I… need to… need to… become…" soon, his vision blurred and his head began feeling really heavy. He tried to struggle to stay conscious, but he soon fell from where he was, landing hard on the grassy ground, creating a crater.

The land around him was full of marks of the battle: cut trees, rocks spread everywhere along with dirt, holes on the ground… and Gohan himself in a pitiful state.

Out of nowhere, a silhouette appeared and walked to the unanimated body of the child.

'_I can't believe he did all this alone, to himself: he definitely didn't tell me everything about his past, earlier.'_ thought the man who was none other than Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage.

He lifted the Hybrid and walked away, taking him along.

'_I would have preferred not to do this, but I need to know the whole story.'_

* * *

><p><em>(Narration)<em>

_Gohan have joined the village of Konoha and met Naruto Uzumaki. But, the shadows of his past are still haunting him. Without his Super Saiyan powers, will he be able to stand in front of the Androids if he ever meets them again? And what is the option left for Lord Hokage to know the truth about Gohan's dark past? Do not miss the next chapter of this story!_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Okay, this chapter was supposed to be posted waaaaaaaaaaaaay earlier. But because of some radical mistakes, I had to re-write almost the whole chapter over… and I also wanted to put as much events to avoid showing them again in annoying flashbacks. Personally, I have nothing against them, but using the same ones over and over again could get repetitive!<strong>_

_**Anyways, I do hope that you enjoyed this OVER 9000 words chapter and that you will visit the poll in my profile page and vote: your opinion is important! Plus, I have everything planned for each of the alternatives, so vote the one you prefer :)**_

_**See you in the next chapter and do tell me if you see anything wrong with this one!**_


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